Solange Ramos de ANDRADE and Daniel Lula COSTA

Original title: O Inferno de Dante e a simbologia do sétimo círculo

Published in Paradise, Purgatory and Hell: the Religiosity in the Middle Ages

Keywords: Dante, Demons, Hell, Middle Ages, Violence.

The period between XI to XIII century was remarkable for the expansion of Christian hell. The belief in evil increased the fear of unknown and enabled the structure of a punitive hell. The poet, Dante Alighieri, made a geography for Christian hell, paradise and purgatory by means of collective representations of medieval man. We’ll use the concept of representation to discuss the symbolism of Dante’s inferno, focusing in the structure of its seventh circle, where the violent souls are punished.